Ben turns 30!!!!

So in the midst of all the crazy business of moving Epic into the 543 Ben turned 30!! On August 17th was Ben's official birthday but don't worry we started celebrating long before then :) Here is just a glimpse of all the ways we celebrated his 30 years of life...

*Kicked off the party on July 16th when we set sail to the Caribbean with our best friends (this will get a full post when I get all the pictures together)

*Chris and Caryn had us and the Milners over to celebrate and play settlers - homemade cake and ice cream! And on another night Adrion made gumbo for us :)

*On his birthday eve we celebrated with Hendersons again (in spirit this time) as he opened his very first pair of Chacos

*On his actual day of birth his co-wrokers took him to lunch and he got balloons from my mom

...and Starbucks decided to celebrate

and finally we ended the night celebrating with 40 volunteers from Epic as we also prayed for the opening of our new space!!!

For an encoure I cooked his favorite meal and had friends but I didn't seem to snap a picture. We had french onion chicken, hash brown casserole and green bean bundles :)

I adore my husband and couldn't let 30 pass by without celebrating him over and over again. I am so grateful for who he is and the chance to walk through life by his side.

:) Lindsey

Pictures of The 543 - Grand Opening!

So here are some pictures from the new space at Epic Church. We had our Grand Opening on August 21 and these seats have been full ever since!!

*Just chairs in the room

*Worship Service & Band rehearsal

*Birth-23 months room

*Grand Opening Pictures

We are absolutely LOVING having this space and we are grateful to God for providing it for us!

:) Lindsey

Bittersweet & Stopping Traffic

Epic Church met at the W Hotel for the very last time this past Sunday. It was also our very last time to have to set-up and tear down for a service. We are THRILLED to have permanent space for Epic Church and not to have to wake up so early each week. With that said, I couldn't help having a bittersweet emotional moment as the service ended.

When no one in SF would rent us space on a weekly basis, The W Hotel did. And I am so grateful for that. The Great Room on the 3rd floor will always be the very first public gathering for Epic met. Such good memories and many defining moments there.

We are excited and ready to move forward in the new space. I can't wait to post pictures from The 543. This Sunday is our very first time to gather in the new building so hopefully I can get some pictures up next week.

Until then, ever wonder how 230 chairs get delivered in downtown San Francisco?? We were told that an 18 wheeler would be delivering the chairs. The chairs were in stacks of ten. What we didn't know was where the truck could park. Here are a couple of pictures from the delivery :)

Got to love church planting in an urban setting! We may have stopped some traffic momentarily but we were able to get all the chairs unloaded. If you are interested in investing in the new space you can purchase a chair for $60. Click here to find out more details.

With love,

Lindsey

BIG NEWS!!!

It is with great excitement that we announce that God has given Epic a permanent space in our target area. Many of you know we have been praying about this for the past few months. We signed a 3-year lease this past Monday afternoon. To say it was a surreal moment would be an understatement. Without going into all of the details, things happened in this process that only God could have done.

We shared this incredible news with our church yesterday morning. Our faith community is excited about what this means for our church. We have space on the lower level of a great building that is located at 543 Howard Street, right in the middle of downtown San Francisco. It is less than 2 blocks from where we currently meet at the W Hotel on 3rd and Howard.

Because it is already properly zoned and there is no major construction necessary, we will actually hold our first worship service there on August 21, 2011. One of the coolest things about getting this space this week is that momentum has never been greater at Epic. Attendance has averaged over 130 people the last 4 weeks and we are preparing for our second baptism on August 7th.

How You Can Help Furnish 543 Howard

There are quite a few things that we will have to purchase to get our space ready at 543 Howard. We have been using the W Hotel’s stage and chairs, so we’ll have to purchase those for starters. There are some other things that will have to be bought as well. You can click here to see how you can be a part of moving Epic Church into its new space. For as little as $60, you can purchase one of the 230 chairs that we will be buying for the space. You can do more or less, of course. You’ve helped us so much to get this far and we are excited to partner together on this endeavor as well.

We will continue to keep you updated about the process of moving into this space. I could not be more excited about the future of our church!

*copied from Ben Pilgreen's Blog

A year in review...

It's hard to believe that Ben and I have lived in San Francisco for over a year now. Since we moved to the city on May 31, 2010 SO much has happened. Time seems like it passing faster than ever before. I wanted to share the last year in review through some pictures. In the last year our faith has been tested, our hope renewed and through the joys and struggles we have seen many prayers answered. It's been a fun year, full of adventure and unknown. Here's a look back...

*Our first apartment - sometimes we miss the 430sq ft studio....just kidding :)

*MK came to live with us

*Our very first launch team meeting (12) & our last meeting before we launched (~36)

*Ben turned 29 & I turned 27

*Ben got a job!!!

*Many of you bought gifts for our Epic Kids Baby Shower

*After months of working out of Panera Bread, Epic got offices!

*Our first Christmas in our new 1br apartment :)

*Epic Church launched weekly services & our first Easter

*3 ladies share stories of redeemed lives and get baptized

*Our first big serving event in the city

Looking forward to seeing all that happens in the next 12 months!